Now Where Did I Put That Red Lantern

The Iknitarod is finally over!  Well, technically the Iknitarod was over months ago, but my team, hindered by me, finally crossed under The Burled Arch last week...just as the weather here turned into full on hot and humid Kentucky summer-time.  Oh, to be in Alaska.

This cute vest is the Petite Knits Lulu Slipover and this is the second of her patterns I've completed and I can recommend it as a fun and interesting knit.  It starts at the top of the back and is knit down to the bottom edge.  You then pick up stitches at the shoulders and knit down the front.

You pick up stitches to add the mock turtle neck and pick up stitches to knit around the arms and then pick up stitches on each bottom corner and double knit up the sides to the bottom of the sleeves and add button holes on the two front corners and buttons on the back two.  

Every bind off was an Italian bind off, which is basically Kitchener stitch, and I can say after doing it so. many. times.  I now have it down pat.  It's a pretty bind off and I'm glad to have that in my arsenal.  I also liked how the four plackets were added on and I'd use that technique again as well.

The yarn is Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb and it took a beating with as many mistakes as I made and had to rip out and start back and rip out and start back and rip out (you know, the usual...) and it held up perfectly.  You just can't beat some good medium wools with a bit of long wool blended in :-).

I enjoyed knitting this and really can't say why it took so long, but I am glad to finally have it finished so I can start my next project.  There's always a next project :-).

And as far as the Red Lantern, not to fear, my Iknitariders had everything under control :-).

At The Start

After last year's musher and dog issues I was no longer looking forward to the next two weeks as my favorite two weeks of the year...but I had a new project ready to start so I've decided to give it one more go.  I miss the old mushers and the more historical feel the race used to have, but maybe the kids will do them proud.  For the 2025 Iknitarod...

Yes, this is the same Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn from last year and the same general project (vest) that I did not finish last year, but I've switched to a different pattern.  This is the Lulu Slipover from Petite Knits, the same designer as the Jared sweater.  We cast on this afternoon!

The ravatar is still basically the same, but I've lost my red hat (!) so I changed that out to a new hat made from the same Lamb Camp yarn...for good luck.  My Iknitarider (I almost forgot to pick someone :-o) is a nameless (!) little gray faced lambie wearing a Jacob sweater that I knit maybe as a pattern for a sweater I knit for a friend.  

I think I might call the lamb Punkin because as I was dusting off my ravatar from last year and looking at all the sheep, I couldn't for the life of me think who was standing next to me. Most of the sheep are pretty obvious, at least to me, but I was completely stumped by...Punkin :-o.

Maybe I'll find my brain when I dust off my Red Lantern and my sled!

Going Off In A New Direction

There are a few things I'm known for...and we are going to skip the first couple of them ;-).  If you've been around me any length of time you'll know that I am notorious for my lack of color.  My car is gray.  My truck is gray.  I wear white turtlenecks all winter and most of the time you'll find me wearing a gray t-shirt during the summer.  

Gray IS a color!  There are lots of grays!  You can make all sorts of them by mixing different amounts of black and white Jacob wool together!  It's just maybe not as exciting to you as all the other fun colors most wool crafters embrace.  Whatever ;-).

In the last couple of years I've gotten interested in punch needle crafts.  I enjoyed sampling rug hooking with wool strips several years back, but didn't want to get started having to collect a stash of different colors of wool fabric.  Punch needle is done with yarn.  I can make my own yarn as I need it and I can...ahem...dye it all sorts of colors.

During shearing over at Tring Farm we pull out the nicest fleeces for hand spinners and the rest, because there is no commercial market for anything but fine wools anymore, get used around the farm for mulch, erosion control or...nothing :'-(.

As I set one of my favorite sheep's fleece on the dump trailer last year I started thinking about how else to use that wool.  Miss Piggy is old and her wool is nothing really special...but it's Pigs...so it's special to me.  So are her daughters, The Piggly Wigs.  And Pocket and Double O and Mims and Holly and Posey and Maybelline and then there are all of Annemarie's favorites.

While they might not be sexy young sheep fleeces, they'd make great rug yarn!  And the next Lamb Camp yarn was born.  Lamb Camp...Old Friends.

I decided to ask the mill for a mix of worsted weight and bulky weight yarn.  There are different punch needle sizes for each, with the smaller yarn and needles offering a bit more option for detail work and the larger for a heavier weight rug you would actually walk on (!).

When the yarn came back earlier this year I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was very pretty and much softer than I'd expected and it would actually be just as nice knitted as it would be woven or punched, especially the worsted weight.  I should have trusted the old girls :-).

 

Here's where things get really crazy.  Since I'm a bit color challenged, I've been a little hesitant to make any big dyeing plans.  I did dye up a small amount to match the basic colors that someone else developed for last year's winter postage stamp collection.  I needed some color inspiration...or at very least a kick in the backside.

Yes, I bought two boxes of Nothing But Color :-o.  These Color Cubes provide all sorts of information for aspects I'm not even positive what they are yet, but they're inspirational for sure.  I'm looking forward to learning all sorts of new things.

Stay tuned for more colorful posts and more information about my ideas for punch needle designs and yarn kits and even perhaps some colorful knitting!  We'll have the new yarn available for the Bluegrass Yarn and Fiber Crawl starting this Saturday and I will get it added to the website soon.

State Of The Fiber Farm Address

I've had some questions about whether we'll be setting up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this weekend and sadly, we are not.  Auntie Reg and I had talked about it, but the way this year has gone so far, I'm incredibly relieved we didn't sign up.  There have only been about two weeks all year that I felt like we could have pulled it off...and this one (even though it's only Tuesday) ain't one of them.

Between not having many any 2023 fleeces skirted yet and having done almost no spinning or other fiber work all year and the 7528 hours it took to knit a stupid simple sweater, I'm struggling to even feel like a real fiber farm/fiber artist right now. 

But...the sheep are happy and healthy. I did finally finish that dang sweater and got to wear it quite a bit before it got hot.  I wove a nice shawl during the Iknitarod.  I've taught a couple of new people how to spin.  We had good shearings here and at Tring Farm and I was able to help Annemarie sell a few of her fleeces.  

Our fleeces are safe and sound and will be ready to skirt, wash, process and spin whenever I'm able to get to them.  I've purchased several really fun looking project patterns including a tiny 7" tall fox who needs 29 pages to come to life.  Wait, what?  29 pages?!?  Yeah...I can't get out of my own way.

Wait, one other "win" is that our sweet little group of spinners, knitters, weavers, crocheters, sewers, hookers, felters, punchers, storytellers (and there have been some doozies :-), bakers, and their cats, dogs, sheep, chickens...from all over the country is still crafting right along via Zoom every Tuesday night.  They're getting stuff done :-D.

So, yes, the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington is this weekend and the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial is going on just down the hill as well.  Both will be lots of fun!  I was talking to one of the local Crafters last week (oh, when I sheared her old sheep, so that probably counts too...if we're keeping score...which I need to stop doing) and we decided, in the spirit of the festival, to do an in person/on farm Crafter's meet up this Saturday.  

This super casual on farm event is open to all the farm friends, not just Crafters.  You do not need to be a fiber person.  If you would just enjoy sitting on the porch or bringing a picnic dinner out to the farm, come on! Everyone and their house cat is welcome...but please leave your dog at home ;-)

I'll be here from 3:00 on on Saturday and would be happy to teach spinning or fiber processing or sheep care...*  You can bring your own wool or spindle or wheel or borrow one of mine.  There are plenty of sheep to borrow who would be happy to teach you how to feed them cookies.

I doubt I'll pull off anything fancy in the way of food or beverages, but I'm sure Auntie Reg won't let us go hungry.  Feel free to bring snacks or a picnic with you or call in a pizza for pickup on the way.  You should probably toss in a chair.

   Update on food - we're going to set up an ice cream bar!  Throw on some nuts and a banana and you've got yourself a nutritious dinner.  Bang! :-D

* * * * *

*I'm also happy to teach fleece skirting, wool washing, barn cleaning, field mowing, flower planting, weed pulling, chicken wrangling, corgi 'wrasslin'... ;-D  

I say all that sort of joking, but if you are interested in buying a fleece, especially if you are new to raw wool, this could actually be a good thing!  I could help you pick one out, we could skirt it (and maybe a few others ;-) together and talk about how to go on from there!

I am also happy to bring out various colors and types of roving, some Lamb Camp Legacy yarn and there are six skeins of Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn left, too, so just ask if there's something you'd like to see.

If you have any questions or need directions, please send me an email.  We are about 35 minutes from Lexington and about 20 minutes from the hotels in Georgetown. 

The 2023 Iknitarod Warp Is A Wrap

Sweet little Maggie, once again demonstrating her wool worthiness.  She has shown a significant interest in everything I've brought out to the barn or barn lot and she's equally interested in WIPs (works in progress) and finished items.  I think I'll be making something from her wool this year!

Aside from the interesting structure, the beauty of a V shawl is how easy it is to wear.  No shawl pin needed.  It will stay put on your shoulders even as you are carried outside on a breezy afternoon :-).

This is where the two pieces are woven together after the front panels are finished.  The pattern I used is a representation of the Fibonacci sequence.  I used five warp threads for each "one" so instead of 1,1,2,3,5,8 I threaded 5,5,10,15,25,40.

I was prepared to really only focus on the back pattern, but I'm equally happy with the simple stripes on the front as well.  I think it's a nice, clean look.

I really enjoyed working with this yarn - the Lamb Camp Legacy blend from all the sons and daughters of Rocky and Jared when they were working over at Tring Farm.  It was easy to warp and weave and it held up well to all my weaving and unweaving and weaving and unweaving and weaving and...  It fulled really well and is surprisingly soft, even up next to my face.

I waffled on what to do with my fringe.  I am not a huge fan of twisted fringe.  I just don't love the look or the feel.  Being a Cotswold cross yarn I was concerned about the fringe felting together into a big mess so I sampled a couple of ways to keep it under control.  

I had the best luck putting big pieces of shipping tape over all the loose yarn before I washed it.  The knots still got a bit fuzzy though so I'm going to keep thinking on it as I get ready to warp up another version.  I think my next V project is going to be a mobius scarf.

All in all I, now that I'm a few days out from the fiddly joining work, I can say I really enjoyed this project and another successful Iknitarod is in the books :-).

"I somehow thought there'd be more knitting."

 

Hey, Lady!

"I'm cold blooded, not cold!  Let's save the sweater for later."

I made a frog!  And finished her sweater just in time for the temps to soar back into the 90s.  She's very cute wearing it, but being a frog, not a sheep who's used to wearing wool, Lilly wasn't too jazzed about wearing it for more than a quick snap.  I bet she'll change her mind this fall!

These sweet little frogs became IG celebrities over the summer.  The designer is Claire Garland and India Rose Crawford is the knitter and the stop motion video artist who made them super stars.  You should definitely check out her frog videos.  You too will fall in love with frogs.  I promise :-).

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I started out by dyeing a speckled froggy colored yarn using the Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn.  This was something new for me and I enjoyed playing around with the best way to make color spots on top of the custom base color.

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I promptly underestimated how much yarn I'd need and ran short and had to dye more yarn.  I got it pretty close, but this is why they always say to buy enough yarn for your project so you aren't trying to find the exact same dye lot if you run out.

Since I knew they colors weren't exactly the same I decided to rip out the legs I'd already knitted so there wouldn't be a noticeable difference between them.

 

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And we all had a good time trying to decide what to call ripping out an actual knitted frog.  Is it still "frogging" (rip it, rip it ;-) or would it be unfrogging, defrogging, refrogging?  :-)

Still Watching Out

I mentioned a "fun, surprise gift" in the post describing the yarn and ornament gift boxes. 

Wait.  This is a spoiler alert for the people who haven't received their boxes yet (and there are also two boxes left if anyone is interested - yarn or ornament) so I've blocked out the surprise part and will trust anyone to look away if they will be disappointed to not be surprised.  

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It's just something silly and small, but I love fun surprises and would totally wait to read this if I thought I had one coming.  However, the story is so good and I've been dying to share it so I'm going to go ahead. 

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Tucked in each gift box, yarn or ornament, is a mini pack of the sheep's (and dogs and chickens) favorite cookies, Vanilla Wafers.  In the conclusion of the booklet it mentions that the sheep are mostly okay with sharing their cookies, but would really prefer that you just bring them back to the farm for them (aka an invitation to come visit the farm :-).

I initially only bought three cartons of mini wafers because I thought that would be a good start.  When I ran out of cookies I headed back to the store to buy more and the shelves were bare.  Tim checked in Lexington and Georgetown and Auntie Reg checked Winchester.  We looked online.  No. Cookies.

I sent one yarn box out with a sad apology and no cookies and  and continued to look.  Tim continued to look.  Reg continued to watch for them.  I needed one more carton to complete all the orders.

Then came the call I was hoping for.  "I found a box of mini wafers!"  Reg had found one box of cookies on the bottom shelf of the snack pack aisle.  

"It was tucked in behind a box of dog biscuits!  I have no idea what dog biscuits were doing in the snack aisle."  

Dog biscuits are sold on the complete opposite side of the huge store.

I knew immediately. 

Hank had guarded those cookies for us.  

{{{heart}}}

Keep Those Cards And Letters Coming

I know it would be way more professional to have a website with a "buy it now" button and a way to easily calculate shipping costs and an immediate "thank you for your order" response, but those sites are expensive and fairly time consuming to maintain and just don't feel like the way our small farm operates.

I have LOVED getting your order emails with stories about who your favorite sheep is or which story is your favorite or how long you've been following along.  No one has followed the blog since a specific date.  They've followed "since Maisie was a baby".  Or Biscuit.  Or Baaxter.  Or Early.  Lots of Early love.

I also love that most people are saying they are excited about the yarn, but extra excited about the book of stories.  I'm also a little nervous about that as it's much more a booklet than a book and after spending so many hours trying to put that small collection together I was quite sure I would never attempt anything bigger.  

Now, a week or so away from "sending it to print" and being actually a little proud of what I got back, even though it's small, I think maybe I might try to write an actual book.  The stories are important.  Those animals are important...and not just to me.  When you share a story back, whether it's a story from here or a story from your life, it's a story that means something.  That's important.

I should have made it mandatory that you share your favorite sheep or a story with your order, because that's been the best part of the last couple of days. I think I've responded back to everyone who shared a memory, giving a little extra tidbit in return.  Let's keep that going.

Is you send me a story, I'll send you back one in return.  No purchase necessary.  No time limit.  If you are having a happy or a sad day and would like or need a story, send me an email with a story or at least just tell me who your favorite sheep is that day and I'll send one back.  It's fun :-D.

I'll do my best to answer as quickly as possible.  And, as always, if you ever don't get a response to an email, please check back because I get a stupid amount of 'not fun story' emails and sometimes things get lost.  

So here's an extra story for the Early folks...

I think everyone knows that Short Round is Ellie's mom.  I'm not sure everyone remembers that she was also Early's mom.  Before anyone thinks badly of her for not taking care of Early, that's a whole 'nother story and it was completely NOT her fault.  I'll share that story some other time.  She was a very good mother.

I never really had any real connection with Short Round like I did Cheeto or Krista.  Those two ewes, while being just part of a commercial flock, were friendly old ewes and became part of my family.  Short Round...well, Short Round was just Short Round, but I thought that sweet Early, who didn't get a chance to do much with his life, would have at least wanted to take care of his mom so she came over here to pension out.

Does that wrinkly nose look familiar?  There is no denying who his momma was :-).  So Short Round got on the trailer that day as a "just a sheep" (but they are never just sheep) and walked off the trailer here with Ellie a pet.  I sure didn't expect her to become friendly, but she settled right in and is now one of my favorite sheep.  Maybe Cheeto and Willard helped with that.  

I'm sure Willard taught her to eat banana peels, one of his very favorite treats.  That's what she's hoping I'm bringing her in the first picture.  She also eats baby carrots.  Petunia will eat a few, too, but that's about it for healthy snacks around here.  No one else would dream of eating anything that wasn't bread or crackers or cookies ;-).  

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Just as stories should not go without saying, neither should thanks.  I am so incredibly grateful for all the yarn box orders the last two days.  I was so worried about where all my sheep would end up (again not the most professional), but even the emails from people I'd not met before were obviously long time friends.  Thank you!

I have another batch of yarn in the washer right now.   The sun is shining and there's a nice breeze across the porch, so I think it will dry quickly and I can keep packing.  I think there are only 20 or so skeins left after this group :-o.

The Yarn Might Not Be The Best Part

It might be the stories :-).

Mother's Day ended up being very busy, but in a good way.  The spring barn clean out, originally planned for Friday/Saturday, was rained out.  We were afraid the ground would still be too wet Sunday, but it dried up enough and Tim was able to knock it out.  Well, you don't just knock it out.  Cleaning the barn is an all day job.  I can't think of a better Mother's Day gift :-).

By late afternoon I was finally able to gather everything and set up a photo shoot under one of the redbud trees by the Wool House.  I mixed and matched and rearranged and fought the too bright light and then Betsy's head popped up in a perfect photobomb.  I love that she is in the picture.

Do you remember her babysitting the bottle lambs?  She loved to sleep in the crate with the lambs, especially if there was a heat lamp involved.  Curling up with a warm lamb was a close second.  I'm not sure Maisie ever took a nap without Betsy.

I don't think Betsy knows her lambs are in this yarn blend, but it's sweet to think that she does and wanted to be part of the pictures.  To make it even better, I told a little story about Betsy and her lambs in the booklet.  Do you remember which lamb ruined it for her?

The bright sun did work out in my favor to help show off the little stitch markers -  sky blue, grass green, tree green, dandelion yellow and redbud pink.  These are my favorite type of stitch markers for knitting.  I haven't learned how to make crochet markers yet, but I enjoyed learning a little about beads and wire and I doubt this is the end of it :-).

The stitch markers are hanging around their necks like a sheep bell and can be easily removed to use or can just stay part of the decoration.  Do you remember which lamb wore the first bell and why?

The yarn wrapped ornaments are for the small gift boxes and the unwrapped ornaments are for the yarn kits.  There will also be a little bit of Blossom roving tucked in the yarn kits so you can wrap your own with any leftover yarn.  It's not a surprise why I picked Blossom to help with them and that is part of her story in the booklet.

This shady tree is actually the redbud tree most loved by lambs...and cats and dogs and chickens and lamb moms.  Remember Early sleeping next to the yard sheep?  He knew they were real sheep, too, and you still can't tell us any different.  

So...that's Early and Abby on the bag logo, yarn tags and leather tag.  They are an important part of our story here and I didn't want them to be left out just because they couldn't contribute any wool.  I loved sitting out under this tree with them tucked against my legs.  Using them in the logo helps a little.

The drawstring bags are a handy 10"x12" size, just perfect for a skein or two of yarn or a small project. The booklet tucks nicely in there as well.  

The booklet was a true labor of love.  I thought it would be easy to write up some stories, describe each sheep's wool, find some good pictures and send it off to the printer.  Phew!  The stories weren't too hard other than trying to pick out what stories I wanted to tell.  I could probably write whole chapters on each sheep...and maybe I will someday.

The problem was the pictures.  Those early lambs lived here long before I had a decent camera or even any real practice at taking pictures.  I love the pictures I have, but they do not compare to the pictures of the more recent lambs.  I wanted Punkin to look as good as Biscuit.  

I played around with several styles and finally settled on a sort of pen and ink/wood block sort of look.  I used the original photographs to make sketches and then a fun iPad app to turn them into black and white line drawings and then fine tuned them with another drawing app.  I enjoyed learning how to do this and it was fun to spend a little extra time with each lamb.

The booklet not only has pictures and stories about the lambs, but also a bit about their breed(s) and fleece.  There's also a little story about how the yarn came about and how I became thecrazysheeplady.  Karen Battersby designed a beautiful lamb sweater using the yarn and the pattern for that is included as well.  Even if you don't have a baby lamb to dress, it could easily be adapted for a small dog or agreeable cat :-).

About the yarn.  Each skein is 250 yards of worsted weight yarn and weighs around 4.4 ounces.  I find it knits comfortably to the gauge of around five stitches per inch and is a very nice versatile yarn with good Punkin's Patch character.  It's soft and cuddly, but hard working enough to do most any job.  

As this blend can never be replicated, it's a very limited offering and will only be for sale here on the blog.  Feel free to share this post with your friends, but I'd rather it didn't get posted to the wider public.  There's not much of it and I want to make sure everyone who's been along for the ride, new or old, gets first dibs.

This is my favorite picture from the shoot.  Isn't it a bit funny that Betsy came over here as well?  Maybe she can smell her lambs in there.  

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The yarn box includes 1, 2 or 3+ skeins of Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn, the lamb stories booklet, drawstring bag, plain ornament, spring stitch markers, a leather Lamb Camp tag and a fun surprise gift.  

         One skein $52    Two skeins $77    Three skeins $102 

If you are wanting a sweater quantity of yarn or unwashed yarn for weaving, drop me an email.   

The ornament box includes a Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn wrapped ornament with the spring stitch markers and leather tag attached, the drawstring bag, lamb stories booklet and the fun surprise gift.

$36

As always, if you are interested in purchasing something from the farm shop, just send me an email and let me know what you'd like.  I'd also love to hear who your favorite lamb is or your favorite lamb story.  Even if you aren't interested in purchasing a Lamb Camp box, I'd love to hear about your favorites :-).

Shipping is always a struggle these days.  If you would like a shipping quote, I am happy to get that for you.

You are also always welcome to come to the farm and visit the sheep and save your shipping costs entirely.  Punkin's Patch won't be setting up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival later this month, but I'll be around that weekend and we would all love a visit :-).  Please send me an email to let me know you are coming.

We hope you love our yarn :-)

Thecrazysheeplady, Punkin, PPPP, Ewen McTeagle, Keebler, Graham Lamb, Baaxter Black, Lila, Liddy, Blossom, Maisie, Bullwinkle and Biscuit

It's All Been Fun...

...but washing the yarn is the best part :-).

I've spent the last month (or so) working on the new Lamb Camp yarn release.  Remember the bottle lamb fleeces I sent to Stonehedge Fiber Mill?  Here's a video link.  

I've got the yarn "finished" (skeined, washed and ready for tagging).  I wrote a short book telling a little about the yarn and all the sheep who made it.  I also created a picture of each sheep as a lamb to go with each story.  There was a huge learning curve there, but I'm happy with the end results.

At that point I realized that the project was much more than just throwing together a pamphlet with some yarn and more of a celebration of all the sheep and each of their special stories, so I designed a small project bag, some Equinox Farm inspired stitch markers, a project tag and a wooden ornament to all go with it.

Whew!  I've got way more time in this project than I should, but I always end up putting more time into each lamb than I anticipate as well, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  

The first batch. 

The yarn isn't "finished" until it's washed and dried.  The main reason you need to wash it is to get rid of the spinning oil and any residual dirt, but washing it also wakes up each fiber and allows it to relax back into it's original character.  Some fibers bloom into fuzzy yarns, some get really stretchy, some get puffy, some relax with more drape and flow...  This yarn, being a blend of several types of sheep does a little bit of all of that.

One skein before washing, on the right.  One skein after, on the left.  Isn't that fun?

The yarn is really pretty.  I've made a lamb sweater from it and also a matching short poncho for myself.  The lamb sweater was pretty straightforward, but I have some epic stories about the poncho that need to be shared here so I can add more details than what hit Instagram at the time.  Miss B made a gorgeous sweater from the yarn and I would love to share that as well.  My poor neglected blog.

So, yes, there will be some of this yarn for sale and my plan is to post it on Sunday for Mother's Day, mostly for sentimental reasons.  Of course I don't have any pictures taken and it's crazy/normal springtime on the farm and Frankie and I have our first horse show tomorrow... so it may be the afternoon before I can actually pull that off.  

Wouldn't it be nice if I got all that done and posted a horse show update tomorrow evening like the good old blogging days?  I'm going to try.

Under The Burled Arch

Chocula Chip and I had a great Iknitarod!  Not only did I finally learn the basics of punch needle rug making, but we also made a bonus rug with our leftover time and material :-). 

I didn't have enough Cotswold yarn left so I pulled out a skein of the original Lamb Camp yarn and picked out my colors and pulled out the dye pots.

I was curious to try that yarn as it is a different type of wool.  Cotswold is long, curly, smooth and shiny.  Wool from Texel crosses is a little shorter and the crimp is tighter and more fuzzy than smooth.  It has some luster/shine, but definitely more matte.

I really liked both yarns, but, as a beginner, found the Texel cross yarn to be a bit easier to work with, from the dye pots to the punching.  

I wanted to draw the second rug (left) with similar sized sheep and shepherd and I love the pattern I came up with.  I am going to draw this again, but for a larger rug so I can practice adding more detail...and also more sheep ;-).  If it works out okay, I may add the pattern to the farm shop in case anyone else would like to give it a try with their own sheep.

Overall, I found this project to be much easier than I thought it might be and just as much fun as I'd hoped.  I can't wait to start my next one!  Big thanks to Robin for all her help and encouragement along the way.  She and Andy have all the basic supplies if you are interested.

Another Colorful Hat

After making the Forest for the Trees hat using the white Lamb Camp Legacy yarn, I started looking for a pattern to highlight the medium gray yarn.  This Agate Cove Hat popped up on my Instagram feed and I knew I had my next project. I could feature the medium gray, but also have fun with all three colors :-).  

The designer says "This hat was inspired by the variety of beautiful agates that can be found in some of the pebbly coves here in downeast Maine."  Hmmm, I don't have an agate, but I do have a rock from a beach in Maine...and it happens to look almost exactly like the colorwork!  

Actually, in looking at this picture, I think the hat also matches the now perpetually damp stone at the Wool House.  What a muddy wet winter.

The pattern called for worsted weight yarn and the LCL yarn is DK weight (and the dark gray/black might actually be closer to sport weight now that I've knit a little with it) so I did a gauge swatch and then did an easy calculation to determine how to adjust the pattern for the thinner yarn.

The colorwork looks complicated, but it's not.  It's done with slipped stitches so you are only using one color per row ever though it looks like two.  I learned this trick with the Voe Hat a couple years ago and it might be my favorite way to work colors now.  Definitely beginner friendly!

I knit the hat to the full suggested height, but thought it looked a little too "slouchy" for me, so I took out a few rounds and shortened it just a bit.  I also added some tassels to the top.  I don't know what possessed me to think of that, but I like it.  I wrapped each tassel with a different color just for fun.  

See!  I can do colors ;-).


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There is plenty of all three colors of yarn available in the Farm Shop.  Even though I probably can't resist making something small with the dark gray yarn, I promise I won't knit it up all myself :-).